The great hall of Paladas Academy quieted as the doors creaked open, and a single figure stepped through.
Nagara Veldorys, the rumored Fallen Prince, walked into the fifth-year class without ceremony. His long cloak stirred behind him, the silver moonstone sigil at his chest catching the morning light. Around him, students whispered—some curious, others already dismissive.
He was an outsider. And worse—an anomaly.
Few had ever been accepted directly into the fifth year. None had entered bearing a disgraced title.
A scoff rang out from the front row.
A tall student rose—lean, powerful, with an unmistakable confidence etched in every movement. His robes bore the rich green of House Physeis, and the insignia of Natura, the Eastern Kingdom, was etched proudly into a ring on his finger.
Kael.
"Did the academy start taking strays?" he said, loud enough to command silence. "Or is this a charity case for the exiled?"
Laughter followed like thunder behind lightning.
Nagara's steps didn't falter. He stopped a few paces away from Kael and met his gaze. Calm. Cold.
"Speak if you have something to say," Nagara replied.
Kael stepped forward. "You don't belong here. You show up, fifth year, without record or merit, and expect to be treated as our equal?"
He smirked, amused. "Royal blood doesn't mean much when it's been spilled."
Nagara's jaw tightened, but he didn't look away. From the edge of the hall, Azlin appeared, his expression tense as he approached Nagara's side.
"That's Kael of Natura," he whispered quickly. "Elite student. Ranked first in House Physeis. Earth magic and combat—dangerous combination."
Nagara didn't blink.
Good.
He wanted this.
He needed them to see.
After years of humiliation, of whispers and shame, this was the moment he had waited for—not just to fight, but to remind them who he was. To show that he belonged here—not among the lowest, but among the strongest.
"I didn't come to be equal," Nagara said clearly, so all could hear. "I came to be better."
Kael's smile faded.
There were no teachers present. No one came to intervene. The class had formed a loose circle, sensing what was about to unfold.
Kael cracked his knuckles. "Then let's see it. Show us what makes a prince out of ashes."
With a stomp, the stones beneath his feet surged upward, jagged and fast, a spike of raw earth lunging toward Nagara.
But Nagara was already moving.
He cast off his cloak in one smooth motion, ice swirling at his fingertips. Frost erupted across the floor, colliding with the oncoming stone and halting it mid-rise, frozen and split.
Gasps echoed through the hall.
The air dropped several degrees.
Azlin stepped back as mist curled around Nagara's figure, his breath visible, his stance controlled. The cold didn't bother him. It welcomed him.
Kael's eyes narrowed.
Nagara didn't smile—but his voice was steady.
"Let me show you," he said, "why I was born to rule."
And then the hall exploded into movement.
Kael didn't hesitate. With another stomp, the earth surged beneath him like a living beast. Stone spikes erupted from the floor, shooting toward Nagara in a brutal arc.
Nagara's eyes narrowed.
He stepped into the charge, sliding beneath the first spike as frost erupted from his boots, leaving an icy trail behind him. His hand swept out—a crescent of ice burst forth, sharp and gleaming, shattering one of the earthen blades mid-air.
Gasps echoed from the watching students.
"He's fast," someone muttered.
"No chant… he casted instantly," another said.
Kael swung his arm, and the stones around him rose, forming a thick gauntlet of compacted earth around his fists. He lunged forward, fist drawn back, aiming a crushing blow at Nagara's chest.
Azlin's eyes widened. "That'll crack ribs—!"
Nagara ducked at the last second. The punch skimmed his shoulder, knocking him sideways—but he caught himself with one hand on the ice-slick floor, and twisted with it.
He spun low, frost coiling up his legs, and with an upward sweep of both hands—an explosion of sharp icicles burst from the floor beneath Kael.
Kael roared, leaping back, his boots smashing the rising spears of ice mid-air. One nicked his arm, slicing the cloth of his sleeve.
He glanced down at the cut.
Then laughed.
"You're not bad, Fallen Prince. But that won't be enough."
With a sharp slam of both hands into the ground, the stone beneath Nagara suddenly cracked, dropping him into a shallow pit. The terrain twisted—Kael's earth magic reshaping the ground itself. Walls of rock snapped upward to trap Nagara within a miniature arena of Kael's own making.
Nagara looked up, surrounded on all sides.
Kael raised his fist above him, stone swirling like a hammer forming from the earth.
"End of the line."
But Nagara smiled.
From the pit, the temperature plummeted. A glint of deep azure shimmered across the stone. Frost cracked the walls from within. And then—
A geyser of frigid wind burst upward, launching Nagara out of the enclosure in a rush of snow and fog.
He landed behind Kael—quiet as shadow.
Azlin stood still, whispering, "He baited him."
Kael turned, but too slow—Nagara's palm struck forward, not with brute force, but with cold precision. A wave of ice rippled across Kael's right side, encasing his arm in solid frost, locking his movement for a split second.
The room gasped.
Nagara stood chest to chest with him now, frost swirling around his shoulders, breathing hard but steady.
Kael's eyes burned.
He reared back his free arm, shattering the frost in a powerful swing—but Nagara had already stepped back, gliding on ice as though weightless.
The crowd stood frozen—no one daring to interrupt. No teacher in sight.
Then finally—Kael exhaled, shaking out his arms. His grin returned, but something in his eyes had shifted.
"Not bad… for someone who fell."
Nagara said nothing, his breath forming fog in the cold air.
"Enough!"
A blast of wind surged through the hall as Professor Bellanthe, the Elemental Arts instructor, stepped forward, her robes billowing from the force of her magic.
The stone floor retracted. The frost evaporated. Kael and Nagara both froze in place—though the heat of their standoff still lingered.
Professor Bellanthe's eyes narrowed. "A duel in the middle of the lecture hall, before class has even begun? Brilliant."
Kael crossed his arms, unbothered.
Nagara didn't flinch either.
She sighed. "Since you both seem so eager to waste time, I'll help you waste a bit more. Detention. Both of you. Three days. No classes. Negative 10 points each."
A groan spread through the students.
Kael's jaw flexed. "Tch."
Nagara just looked away, his expression unreadable.
...
Later that afternoon, Nagara trudged into the House Mennefer common room, his cloak still dusted with melting frost. The circular chamber flickered with soft candlelight, velvet curtains drawn back to reveal tall, arched windows.
On the couch, lounging like royalty with a book that he wasn't sure about one of their courses, sat Rania Thysia.
She glanced up, smirking.
"Well, well," she said, her voice like silk dipped in sarcasm. "First day, already skipping?"
"No," he paused but continue. "I got... detention..."
She chuckled.
"You already got detention? What a very good way to get to the top."
Nagara dropped onto the nearest seat with a thud, arms crossed and face in a full pout.
"And why are you even here?" he grumbled. "Shouldn't you be in class too?"
Rania arched a brow. "Why should I?"
She stretched like a cat, golden eyes gleaming in amusement. "I don't like school. Nor do I care to gain recognition like you. Sometimes, staying lowkey is good, you know."
Nagara shot her a sideways glare. "Then why are you even in this academy?"
She leaned back, one leg draped over the other. "I'm only here because this place has decent teas and an exceptionally well-stocked library. That's enough."
Nagara sighed, groaned, and finally stood with a heavy drag of his boots.
Why, he thought as he climbed the stairs to his room, am I stuck with a lazy girl like her as my teammate?
Upstairs, he flopped face-down onto his bed and resumed pouting—silently wondering if taking on Kael had really been worth it.
But deep down, a small, fierce grin tugged at the corner of his mouth.
Yes.
It had been worth it.